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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsCharlotte Edwards made a well paced century and shared a 159-run partnership with Sarah Taylor to set-up England Women’s thumping 96-run victory over South Africa Women at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.South Africa chose to bowl but England’s top order quickly made them regret that decision as Edwards and Danni Wyatt added 88 for the first wicket before Taylor and Edwards combined to flay the South Africa’s bowlers in their mammoth stand. The pair scored at just under eight runs an over, with Taylor the more aggressive of the two. She was particularly harsh on Thomson, smacking her for consecutive fours early in her innings before looting four boundaries in one over when Thomson was brought back on towards the latter stages. She fell an over later for 77, trying to push the tempo even higher.Edwards was only restrained in comparison to Taylor, but showed no less intent. Shabnim Ismail was pulled and driven through the onside for boundaries to take her into the 90s and she brought up her hundred with another four, this time off Marizanne Kapp. She then celebrated by dishing out similar treatment to Sunette Loubser before eventually holing out for 138 from 139 balls. At that point England were 263 for 3 in the 43rd over and a couple of cameos from the middle order took them to 315.South Africa started steadily in the chase but quickly fell behind the asking rate as the England bowlers kept things tight. Their only chance was for Dane van Niekerk and Mignon du Preez to press on and make big scores after the openers fell but van Niekerk’s dismissal with the score on 138 in the 29th effectively ended their chase. Wickets fell regularly after that and England sealed the win when Ismail holed out off Laura Marsh to go 2-0 up and claim the series.”It was a good all round team performance today. I’m really pleased how we’ve come back with our bowling and our fielding performance,” Edwards said. “It’s always nice to clinch a series and to contribute to that is fantastic. I was really pleased with how I played today, I wanted to get a big score out here. “Sarah and I have batted a lot together – she’s world class.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Brad Haddin delivered a blistering start to the chase•Associated Press

Kolkata Knight Riders bounced back to inflict a comprehensive defeat on Royal Challengers Bangalore and keep their own hopes alive in the Champions League while making survival difficult for their opponents. A delightful cameo from the home captain, Daniel Vettori, seemed to have set up a close encounter, but the Knight Riders dominated the chase, reminding the Royal Challengers top order of what they should have done with the bat on a good pitch. Brad Haddin, replacing Shakib Al Hasan, did full justice to his role by delivering a flier at the start while Jacques Kallis anchored the reply with support from Gautam Gambhir.The Knight Riders were left angered and frustrated by Vettori’s crafty batting at the death in the Royal Challengers’ innings, but didn’t let that affect them in the chase. A spate of misfields and fumbles drew ire from Gambhir, but the batting was calm and clinical in its approach. Haddin gave the initial push by stepping up in the second over to smack the left-arm seamer S Aravind, who’s won a call-up to the India squad for the ODIs against England, for three consecutive fours as the bowler struggled with his line.Haddin’s approach came with risks but it wasn’t mindless aggression. He used his feet well against spin, charging out to J Syed Mohammad and dispatching him over long-on, and waiting patiently for Vettori to slip in a bad ball – and he did – before punishing it past point. He was unforgiving against a clutter of length deliveries from a struggling Aravind, carving them for sixes over midwicket and the bowler’s head, interspersed by a slog for a four. When he fell with the score on 62 in the eighth over, the platform had been laid.The rest of the innings seemed meticulously planned. Kallis ceded the floor to Gambhi after launching a six over long-on early in the innings, and the Knight Riders captain played his role superbly. The Royal Challengers had faltered in the field in their previous defeat, and a half-chance that went down was perhaps the one big opportunity they had of a comeback. Saurabh Tiwary failed to latch on to a catch from Gambhir at the long-off boundary, lost his balance and crashed into a member of the support staff in the dugout. Gambhir was on 2 then.As the field spread out, plenty of singles were on offer and the pair rotated the strike comfortably, the required rate in control all through. The timely bursts were provided by Gambhir, who hammered Syed to the straight boundary and past point and clipped an off-the-mark Dirk Nannes past short fine leg. The Royal Challengers didn’t help their cause by doling out extra runs, either by way of overthrows or wides. Nannes was singled out for punishment in the final surge, Kallis reaching his fifty, albeit with a streaky bottom edge, while Gambhir smashed him for two massive sixes over long-on and square leg. That over, the 16th, fetched 24, the win was completed shortly after.A spirited performance from the Knight Riders bowlers had given them the advantage for 14 overs of the hosts’ innings, the early assault from Chris Gayle being the only highlight with the bat until then. Kallis’ stirring reply after being hit for six – a yorker that knocked out Gayle’s leg stump – backed up by Brett Lee’s extra bounce that dislodged Virat Kohli, made up for the early damage.The Royal Challengers didn’t make use of their line-up’s depth, losing wickets after their batsmen got partnerships going, holing out needlessly while an uncharacteristically quiet Tillakaratne Dilshan was stumped smartly by Haddin. With his sly shuffles to the off and the use of those powerful wrists, Vettori, kept company by Syed and Raju Bhatkal, sparked a recovery that left the hosts with the momentum at the end of the innings. It would not be with them for long.After the game, Gambhir was fined $3000 while the rest of the the Knight Riders were fined $1500 per player for being two overs behind the required over rate. The penalty for a slow over rate is $1500 per over for the captain and $750 per over for each of the other players in the starting XI.

Scorecard
Anisa Mohammed celebrates one of four wickets against Pakistan at Arnos Vale•West Indies Cricket

Offspinner Anisa Mohammed capped off a fine series with her third matchwinning effort as West Indies completed an easy win in the fourth and final ODI against Pakistan in Kingstown to seal the series 3-1.West Indies elected to bat and started solidly with openers Stafanie Taylor and Juliana Nero putting on a 52-run partnership. Left-arm spinner Sadia Yousuf then struck to dismiss both batsmen in quick succession. West Indies struggled to recover from that double blow and slumped from 65 for 2 to 81 for 6. Shaquana Quintyne (23) and Mohammed (25) resisted briefly down the order to push West Indies to 154 for 8 in their 50 overs. Yousuf and Nida Dar were the most successful Pakistan bowlers with three wickets apiece.Rain during the lunch break meant the start of Pakistan’s chase was delayed by 30 minutes and their target was reduced to 148 runs in 45 overs (D/L method). However, their batsmen struggled against some tight bowling from the hosts. Only four managed to reach double figures with opener Javeria Khan top scoring with 20. Mohammed picked up four wickets including the last wicket to fall. She was well supported by Pearl Etienne, Shanel Daley and Taylor, who picked up two wickets apiece, as Pakistan were routed for 97 in just under 42 overs to give West Indies the series win.West Indies and Pakistan will now play four T20 games with the first one in St Andrew’s on September 6.

ScorecardSouth Africa Under-19s stormed to a series win in the 7th ODI against England Under-19s at Canterbury. The home side entered the game needing a win to level the series but were bowled out for 204, which was chased down with four wickets and 11.3 overs to spare.It was a tough day for the batsmen but Quinton de Kock stood out again with a rapid half-century at the top of the order. He struck 10 fours to make 78 off 68 deliveries and his contribution was enough to set-up the victory.It was the middle order, though, that guided the visitors over the line. Malcolm Nofal made 33, Diego Rosier 22 and James Price a patient, unbeaten 19 to seal the victory.Earlier in the day, Daniel Bell-Drummond’s scrapping 54 was the main contribution to England’s total. His effort was not supported by the rest of the top order though as England were reduced to 121 for 5 when Bell-Drummond departed.Ramanpreet Singh and Kishen Velani struck a contrasting pair of 30s. Ramanpreet a stodgy 33 and Velani a more fluent 34 from 33 balls. That, though, was followed by a lower-order slump that left South Africa too easy a total to take the series.

Joining an England batting line-up that has outperformed its Indian opponent and, over the last 12 months, has essentially been centered around its resolute, old-world No. 3 Jonathan Trott, is a batsman of sparkling strokeplay, cheeky personality and a careering Test record. Ravi Bopara, named as the replacement for the injured Trott, has said he thought his chances of international cricket in the summer had gone before he found himself in a role reversal from two years ago.Bopara was dropped after the 2009 Ashes Test at Headingley, after scoring 105 runs from seven innings, and replaced by Trott, who has since then cemented his place.”When Trotty came in for me in the Ashes, he got a 100, and I’m coming back in for Trotty so hopefully I can go in and get a 100 and do the same what he did a couple of years ago,” Bopara said at Edgbaston on his return to the England dressing room for what he knows could well be a short stint. “At some stage Trotty will come straight back in. He is a class player and he’s proved himself for England many times. But this little window of opportunity for me is to go out and score some runs.”When Eoin Morgan was picked for the series against Sri Lanka and then India, Bopara said he thought, “my chances might have gone for the summer…” and so turned his attention to scoring heavily in first-class cricket and think of England’s winter tours in Asia, with ODIs in India, Tests in Sri Lanka and an ‘offshore’ series versus Pakistan in the UAE. “I still knew that I still had to perform very well if I want to travel with the team during the winter as a spare batsman… I still knew I need to be scoring runs to get the nod ahead of anybody else,” he said.Bopara believed his second-innings century against Leicestershire at Southend proved crucial in convincing the England selectors that he was ready for a return to Test cricket. He considered the 178 one of his best four-day knocks, which put him in good nick. “I certainly enjoyed that innings… I got into a zone I felt where I honestly felt I couldn’t get out… Eventually I had to come out of that bubble, when we had to set a score to put them in… Leicestershire bowled to sort of different tactics and it worked in my favour as well. I’m very glad that that innings happened, I learnt a lot from that innings alone.”Bopara’s fitful first-class season with Essex before that knock – with two centuries and two fifties in eight games – was not, he says, the result of being ignored by England even though it had had left him “frustrated”. The time he chose to spend in county cricket, as opposed to playing in the lucrative IPL, he said, had been a very useful investment as the summer has worn on. His early form in the season came from the typical demands of the first half of the English season. “Maybe I didn’t I prepare as well for those conditions, I didn’t think it was going to be as tough as the conditions really were… I didn’t certainly expect those conditions early season and I’m glad I did invest that time into my game. Not going to the IPL, it sort of gave me an insight into how tough conditions can be early season in England. I certainly learnt my lesson.”

Forgetful Ravi finds a solution?

“I am very forgetful, I won’t lie. I’ve invested into an iPad which has been helping me a lot and I’m jotting little things in that. That helped me. I receive my emails straight away now, just the touch of a button and Ive got my emails. Whereas before I had to find a computer and log on, find some wifi and all that rubbish, but now I’ve got 3G and everything. My life is certainly more organised now than it has ever been. I didn’t think it was a big issue, but it has crept up on me. Sometimes being late here and there, forgetting the odd bit of kit and forgetting your passport and stuff, it’s one of those things that happens but it can’t keep happening and that’s why I’ve made efforts to make myself more organised as a person. It sounds silly, but the iPad is really helping me.” Bopara was then asked if he’d remembered to charge his iPad. “Yeah, it’s dead right now in my car,” he joked.

Part of that learning has come from handling the Tiflex ball used in the second division of the county championship. Bopara first found himself in the news not for scoring runs off it, as much as for critical tweets. On April 15, he had tweeted, “no heavy rollers and tiflex balls is a recipe for low scores. Crap cricket!”When asked why his international appearances had been so sporadic for a cricketer once considered the next big thing for English cricket, Bopara said, “It might have been that I wasn’t a well-rounded enough player to have survived at Test cricket in that time but you never will know until you go out and have another opportunity… and eventually when you do crack it, that’s the only time you will know.”Even as Trott’s replacement in the England batting, Bopara is not a prime candidate for the No.3 spot with there being a possibility of Ian Bell moving ahead and Bopara being slotted in at No. 6. When asked where he would like to bat Bopara said, “Anywhere. I don’t care. I’m not saying I can’t bat at No.3 because I’ve done so for the county many times. I’ve got two Test hundreds batting at No.3, it’s not like I can’t do it. It just didn’t happen for me against Australia. Anyway, I’d be happy to bat anywhere and as long as I go and get runs, I’m not too fussed.”Bopara said he wanted to ensure that he did enough with whatever opportunities he was given in the series against India to get his spot back in the England dressing room. “I have to put pressure on other people for me to get in and there’s only one way to get in and that is to knock somebody out. Regardless, I have to go out and score runs, whether it be county cricket, Test cricket… any cricket. This little opportunity here is a great little opportunity for me to get some runs and to prove to the selectors and the coaches that hopefully that I am the next man.”

Eoin Morgan says improving England’s performances against spin in one-day cricket is key to them finding consistency in the format.England were undone by Sri Lanka’s spinners in their 69-run loss at Headingley, with Suraj Randiv and Jeevan Mendis sharing five wickers in 15 overs between them. It was a familiar pattern for England who have been unable to counter slow bowling in ODI cricket for a number of years.Morgan believes playing positive cricket is imperative to them overcoming the problem.”Spin seems to tie us down, so that is something we have to improve – recognising we have to make that improvement as a unit rather than one or two guys going hell for leather,” he told reporters. “It has always been a problem for England, particularly in major tournaments.”The Indians are masters. They take the positive approach of whacking it out of the ground, between milking it around. We need to have a similar attitude, because we have shown when we have positive attitudes we normally win.”Last year, when England were compiling a run of ODI success by beating Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan in successive series, they appeared to be making progress as a limited-overs outfit. That came to an abrupt halt after the last Ashes, when England lost the seven-match ODI series against Australia 6-1.That crushing defeat preceded a poor display at the World Cup and Morgan is certain the difference came with how England played the Australian slow bowlers in June-July 2010.”When we went through a spell of playing very good one-day cricket that is the area we capitalised on – particularly against Australia, when we played [Nathan] Hauritz particularly well and then took the same approach when [Steve] Smith came on,” he said. “Our playing of spin dictates how we do – because when we went to Australia this year, we didn’t play their spinners well.”Despite criticism from some quarters on another area – the lack of centuries England batsmen compile in ODI cricket – Morgan doesn’t see it as an issue.”It is not an inability to score hundreds [that is losing England games],” he said. “Over the past year or so, a few of the guys have got hundreds – but 80 off 75 balls will win you games. We have had people playing match-winning knocks, and it is not a major problem. It is not a massive thing in one-day cricket that you go out and score a hundred.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board has warned the captain of the women’s national team Sana Mir for violating the board’s rules after she reportedly gave an unauthorised interview a few days ago. According to a report in the Mir had spoken about the need for women coaches for the national team.PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar confirmed Mir had been cautioned over the breach. “Sana Mir was only issued a warning by the board and not really a showcause notice as is being said by several sources,” he told the . “It is against the rules for any contractual player to speak to the media without prior permission from the board.”The PCB awarded central contracts to its women cricketers in May which binds them to the board’s code of conduct.Mir, 25, who has played 40 ODIs and led Pakistan to the Asian Games triumph in 2010, is the first woman cricketer to have been warned over discipline issues ever since the PCB introduced central contracts.

Upul Tharanga, the Sri Lanka opening batsman, will face an ICC inquiry after testing positive for a banned substance during the 2011 World Cup, ESPNcricinfo understands. The cricketer is reported to have tested positive for prednisolone, a drug that is used to treat asthma, a condition from which he is said to suffer.Sri Lanka Cricket’s Interim Committee secretary Nishantha Ranatunga, however, denied any knowledge of the incident. “Officially we know nothing about the case,” he told , a Sri Lankan newspaper. “SLC has not received any complaints or reports about the use of the banned substance called prednisolone from any organisation or agency.” The ICC refused to make an official comment about the case.Farveez Maharoof, the Sri Lanka allrounder, said the allegations are not an issue to the team in England even though Tharanga is likely to be part of the one-day squad. “We haven’t spoken about it as a team, so it hasn’t been a distraction,” he said after the fourth day’s play in Cardiff. “We’re here to do a job and here to play a good test match. We’re planning to do well in this Test match and we’re not bothered about what is outside.””He’s a nice guy, a quiet guy, he’s come to the UK a few times and played pretty well, and in the World Cup he has done well,” Maharoof added. “He’s an established opening batsman in our team, and he’s a genuine guy.”According to the ICC’s anti-doping code, “It is each player’s personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substance enters his/her body. A player is responsible for any prohibited substance found to be present in his or her sample. Accordingly, it is not necessary that intent, fault, negligence or knowing use on the player’s part be demonstrated in order to establish an anti-doping violation under Article 2.1; nor is the player’s lack of intent, fault, negligence or knowledge a defence to a charge that an anti-doping rule violation has been committed under Article 2.1.”However, if a player needs to take a drug that is on the World Anti-Doping Authority’s (WADA’s) banned list in order to treat an illness, he is required to apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). The Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee (TUEC) evaluates all applications for TUEs received by ICC.Under the dope-testing process, if a player’s A sample is found to contain a banned substance, he will have the option of asking for his B sample to be tested as well. If his B sample is also found to be positive, then the player could face a provisional suspension until the ICC carries out its inquiry; if the B sample is negative, the investigation is discontinued. It is uncertain how far into the process the ICC is with regard to the Sri Lankan cricketer.

Shane Watson, the Australia allrounder, has surged to the top of the ICC rankings for allrounders in ODIs following his exploits in the recently concluded three-match series against Bangladesh. He made 294 runs, including a brutal, unbeaten 185 in the second game, smashing 15 sixes, a record, and as many fours, and picked up three wickets. It is his career-best ranking to date, and he overtook Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, who now trails him by 44 points. Watson also rose nine places to reach No.4 in the rankings for ODI batsmen.Despite India’s win in the 2011 World Cup, Australia finished as the top-ranked ODI team, while India remained atop the Test ratings at the end of the cut-off date, April 1. Both teams pocketed US$175,000 each. India have held on to their No.1 ranking since December 2009, with series wins against Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia, and drawn series against South Africa and Sri Lanka in their time at the top. Australia have been No.1 in ODIs since September 2009, when they raced ahead of South Africa and India. The four-time world champions were beaten by India in the 2011 World Cup quarter-finals, ending their streak of consecutive World Cup wins at three.India were the runners-up in the ODI rankings – 120 points against Australia’s 128 – by the cut-off date, and picked up US$75,000, while South Africa received the same for taking the No.2 spot in Tests.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAB de Villiers smashed five sixes in his 54 off 40 balls•AFP

Five blistering sixes from AB de Villiers, and his 52-run partnership with Saurabh Tiwary, won the night for Bangalore Royal Challengers.The first came in the ninth over in which Sreesanth leaked 15 runs as Bangalore moved to 80 for 2. It was a full delivery, off a free hit, and de Villiers went down on a bent knee to paddle-scoop it for a stunning six over fine-leg. The next blitz from him came after spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ravindra Jadeja choked up the run flow in the next few overs. With 33 runs required from the last three overs, de Villiers imposed himself against Raiphi Gomez, who was asked to bowl his first over in that pressure situation. The second delivery was smashed over midwicket, the fifth disappeared over long-off and the final delivery was bulldozed over long-on. Game over.It wouldn’t have been an easy decision for Mahela Jayawardene, Kochi’s captain, to turn to Gomez but RP Singh’s poor effort in the 15th over must have forced his hand. With 59 runs needed from the last six overs, RP Singh bowled a poor over. The first delivery was outside leg stump and Saurabh Tiwary shoved it to the fine-leg boundary. The second was a wide, the third was spanked to the straight boundary, and he kept bowling length and went for 15 runs.Bangalore played the waiting game well; they saw out Muralitharan and treated Jadeja with some caution as they knew the seamers could be taken for plenty. It was the same resolve that saw them come back in the game with the ball and restrict Kochi to 161 after Brendon McCullum and VVS Laxman had added 80 runs in the first nine overs.McCullum and Laxman are as different as a Bollywood masala flick and art-house cinema, but they combined superbly to lay a good platform. McCullum was the McCullum the world knows: aggressive, adrenaline-pumping and audacious as ever. He sashayed down the track in the first over to slap a Zaheer Khan delivery over extra cover, but really exploded in the second over against Dirk Nannes. A blasted off drive was followed with a slashed boundary but it was a thunderous pull over the midwicket boundary that really tested the lung power of the home crowd.Laxman has been itching for the IPL to start to prove his worth in the shortest format of the game. There were a few lovely hits: a late cut for four against Tillakaratne Dilshan, lofted on drives on a bent knee and a couple of flicks, but it was a flat-batted thumping six over long-on that really declared his ambition to do well in this tournament. It was a short-of-length delivery from Abhimanyu Mithun, who must have been really shocked to see Laxman back away and flat-bat it over the boundary.However, slowly, and surely, Bangalore began to claw their way back. In the final delivery of the ninth over, Laxman slog-swept Dilshan straight to deep midwicket, and in the 12th over, McCullum fell, top-edging a paddle scoop off Virat Kohli. Suddenly, the slow bowlers began to apply the squeeze. The legspinner Asad Pathan combined well with Kohli to keep Brad Hodge and Mahela Jayawardene in check. Jayawardene tried to break free against Daniel Vettori but was stumped in the 15th over, and Brad Hodge was yorked by Zaheer Khan in the 18th over.It was left to Jadeja, who showed maturity in his shot selection, preferring the straight hits down the ground instead of across-the-line heaves, to push the score along. He did his bit with the ball too but it didn’t prove enough.